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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Mimi Ibrahim

Former world’s tallest man calls for more compassion for vulnerable in UK

Hussain Bisad at home in north London
Hussain Bisad at home in north London. He has had health problems associated with gigantism. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

When Hussain Bisad first settled in north London as an asylum seeker after fleeing from war in Somalia 23 years ago, he did so in the hope of a new and more settled life. Little did he know that shortly after arriving he would be at the centre of the media spotlight, not for his story of escaping conflict but for something altogether different: his height.

Bisad had been in the UK for five months when Guinness World Records measured his height as 2.3 metres (7ft 6.5in), making him then the world’s tallest living man.

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